The Oh Henry!s

The Oh Henry! bar is one of oldest extant candy bars in North America. There are two stories of the origin of the bar. The first is that the bar was invented by Tom Henry in 1919, who ran the Peerless Candy Company (known for their hard candies) where the bar was known as the Tom Henry Bar. He sold the recipe for the bar to Williamson Candy Store in Chicago.

The other story is that it was actually invented by the Williamson Candy Store and named for a helpful customer whom the female clerks would often ask favors of, by saying “Oh, Henry, could you move that heavy box.”

It was often billed as “the ten cent piece of dollar candy” and became popular in Chicago eventually expanding as a national candy bar through the tenacious efforts of John Glossinger (whom Glosettes are named after). Williamson Candy, at some point, sold out to Ward-Johnson which was swallowed up by Nabisco in 1981 (which was also holding the Curtiss bars - Baby Ruth & Butterfinger included- at that time). Finally in 1990 Nestle bought the Curtiss bars, SnoCaps, Goobers & Raisinets from Nabisco. (Some of this is a bit murky and I traced it mostly through trademark registrations, and probably matters very little in the end.)

The bar is simple enough, a vanilla fudge center with caramel & peanuts then covered in chocolate. It’s gone through some changes over the years besides ownership. This is where things get interesting from an evolutionary standpoint. In 1987 Hershey Canada got the rights to produce the bar (through Nabisco which owned Canadian confectioner Lowney). The Hershey’s Oh Henry! is more than a little different from the American bar, as we’ll see.

Though the American bar used to be a single, it has now morphed into a double bar (a la Mounds) while the Canadian version remains pretty much the same as it was 30 years ago.

The package on the Hershey version says: crunchy peanuts, chewy fudge, creamy caramel, covered in a chocolaty coating. It weighs 2.2 ounces (62.5 grams). It comes in a mylar wrapper with a small folded paperboard tray.

The innards of the two Oh Henrys! tell more about them. The American Oh Henry! is rather organized and stratified.

The Nestle one has a caramel base then a fudge mixed with peanuts. It’s all covered in what they call real milk chocolate. It has a nice roasted peanut flavor, but the difference between the caramel and the fudge is minimal. The fudge is a bit saltier, but caramel is short and grainy instead of being chewy and creamy. At first I thought it was just a not-so-fresh bar, so I bought another. And another. This is the third I’ve bought and second I’ve photographed for this review.

The two pieces are nicely sized and the flavor balance overall is good. I would prefer some really good creamy chocolate to pull it together, but that’s just not Nestle’s style.

The Hershey one reminds me a bit of a narrow Payday Chocolatey Avalanche. The fudge is at the center here and much lighter in color (reminding me quite a bit of a nougat except there are no eggs in it). On top of the fudge is a thin layer of caramel which holds the peanuts. The whole thing is covered in a chocolatey coating (which actually contains real chocolate with cocoa butter, but it also has modified palm oil in it, which takes it out of the real chocolate column).

The nuts play a much bigger role here, probably because they mingle with both the (mock)chocolate and the caramel. For fake chocolate, it does a much better job of being creamy and tasty than Nestle’s real stuff. The caramel has a kind of fake butter flavor to it, but this is only noticeable if you take the bar apart and try to eat the elements separately (now why would you wanna do that?).

While Nestle just lets the Oh Henry! bar do its thing here in the States, up in the Great White North it’s another story entirely. Hershey goes to down with the bar. First, it’s one of the largest single-serve bars in Canada, so it’s known as a good value. Hershey also does limited editions and other versions of the bar. I got a hold of a few.

Oh Henry! Dark is exactly what you’d think: the same Oh Henry! bar but with real dark chocolate.

It’s not quite as sweet as the regular Oh Henry! and really quite a nice bar. The dark chocolate gives it a bigger chocolate pop instead of all that dairy-tasting milk chocolate. I could use a dash of salt, but, that’s just me, eh.

All of the variation bars are slightly smaller, at only 60 grams (2.12 ounces).

The Peanut Butter Oh Henry! (with Reese (r) Peanut Butter) swaps out the fudge with a peanut butter mass in the center.

It’s a bit flatter than the other bars. It’s also a bit greasy. This one also has a mockolate coating which isn’t as creamy and just a bit bloomed.

It’s really peanutty. It’s also pleasantly salty ... or unpleasantly so if you think that 115 mg is a little much for a candy bar (the standard Hershey Oh Henry! has 50 mg).

The peanut center also made the caramel more noticeable, probably because it isn’t as dense and chewy as the fudge. (This one is not a limited edition but appears to be a permanent variation.)

The final limited edition item is the Oh Henry! Oh Canada. It first appeared last year for Canada Day (July 1st) so mine is a bit past its prime (the expiration says January 2008).

The bar is described on the wrapper: Crunchy peanuts, red chewy fudge, white creamy caramel, covered in a chocolatey coating. This combo results in red and white in every bite!.

Yes, that fudge center there is actually red. And maple flavored.

Even if it is expired, it was still pretty tasty. I liked the intense maple flavor that permeated the bar. It was like toasted, caramelized pecans.

Overally, I much prefer the Canadian Oh Henry! from Hershey, even if it does have mockolate on it. The Dark Oh Henry! is superior to all the others, but since it was a Limited Edition, the original (which by the way, better reflects the American original anyway) will do in a pinch. But given a choice, I’d probably opt for the whole thing sans (mock)chocolate and get a Payday.

I hadn’t any these in years. So I tried the Nestle Oh Henry (US) version with the layered fillings and was pleased ecxept that I desired a little more fudgeiness in the middle. Everything else was great.

My favourite of the Canadian Oh Henry variations was the Honey Roasted Peanut version. They came in a shiny gold wrapper, and they were to normal Oh Henrys as the prom queen makeover at the end of a teen movie is to the glasses-sporting unlikely heroine of the first reel.

that is, the best possible Oh Henry it could be, while remaining true to itself. Only bolder, and yeah, maybe a bit trashier.

I was doing a school report. It was an advertisment on whatever you want. And if my grammar is not good enough for you, cybele, maybe the schools are at fault. Oh, wait, now my grammar’s good, isn’t it?

daniel giralico - so what you’re saying is that you know how to spell and write properly ... but to come here and ridicule folks, you don’t need to?

What you’re saying that your school project was to do an advertisement on anything you wanted, but you chose this candy ... and searched the internet, I’m guessing for perhaps a photo to use in your project. And wasn’t it nice that someone didn’t have a life, that someone had a page that had something you were looking for? Instead you want to heap abuse on people for having something that you wanted?

Tell me, what grade did you get on this project? Did you use anything from this page? (Perhaps a photo?)

Visiting the Hershey Chocolate World in Hershey, PA on Sunday 03/07/09 I saw packages of ‘Rally’ bars on special. 4 X 2 oz bars for $2.00. Being a Canadian I loved Oh Henry, had I known that this was the same bar in the states I would have bought the whole stock. I only settled for two packages. The packaging was not very informative so I was hesitant about the contents.
Now I am in withdrawal.

I have one of the first oh henry bar original boxes…it is in excellent condition..is so cool ..yup a box not a wrapper….very old. Anyone know of a place to sell it at or any way to find collectors of such things? thx

I am C.Kenneth Crocker, the eldest (95+) son of Charles Henry Crocker. My father and my god parents, Mae and George Williamson, started the candy company. The stories of the naming of the bar are untrue!
The bar had to be wrapped before it was named!

My father and George were out to lunch and midway through the lunch my father called to the waiter for a refill—“Oh Henry”. “That’s the name of the bar”, my father said.

I hope this will clarify the age old story (false) about the naming of the bar.

This is my favorite candy bar since I was little. I am disappointed that I am not able to purchase it at the local stores. I will continue to get some online. I usually get a box and put them in the freezer. A box of 36 and that lasts about 6 months. The best candy bar ever. The other candy that is an old favorite is good n plenty. I am glad they are still around after all these years.

Does anyone remember seeing an Oh Henry advertising poster in the 80s or 90s which was bright yellow and had a list of Irish names (I don’t remember all of them- just mine, “O’Grady”) with “Oh Henry” being the last name? I would love to find one of these posters!

MAN! i ask the question, what happened the oh henry candy bar. i live in detroit and nowadays they are not sold anywhere in detroit. if they are discontinue, why? i love this candy bar second to snickers, of course. nobody seems to know what became of the oh henry candy bar. please bring it back to detroit. pretty plase. thank you. i hope to hear from whomever.